Kingsolver's victory seems to have been the result of battles among the judging panel, which is partly just as you would hope in such a competition, and the chair of judges, Daisy Goodwin, put its eventual selectiondown to the driving sense of passion behind the book.

The winning American author, who already has bestseller The Poisonwood Bible to her name, has reason to be very pleased about her new award for women's writing and by its demonstrable clout. Sales of The Lacuna are up massively overnight, says Amazon, with an increase of 835% after the announcement. This morning The Lacuna was at number 10 in the site's chart.